This trip was my present to myself for my 30th birthday. I didn’t want to throw a big party for myself – I wanted to escape my stressful and boring office job, doing something that matters. One month living in South Africa, the cradle of humankind, home to fascinating wildlife and stunning landscapes – volunteering to save orphaned baby monkeys and to take care of abused, humanized ones. I left with only a few clothes and a lot of anticipation, expecting warmth and sunshine. I was looking forward to getting my hands dirty. Near the small town Tzaneen, which is close to Kruger National Park, I found myself surrounded by green velvety mountains on a dusty bumpy dirt road that leads into the sanctuary. When I arrived, I immediately found myself surrounded by the sound of the bush. Cicadas. They are considered the loudest insects in the world and I wouldn’t doubt that. After mingling with staff and volunteers, my new colleagues pointed out the differences between human and monkey behavior. For example, a seemingly friendly smile is really a sign of aggression in monkey language. Something you want to keep in mind when sharing space with them. My cabin was located in the middle of the forest. There was no fence around it and staff advised me not to let the wild monkeys come in at any time – they would steal my stuff and, when feeling threatened, they would attack. The vervets are only approximately 16 inches tall, but they have spiky teeth and can scratch you badly. Therefore, I got myself a stick to keep them at a distance just in case. The monkeys living there are wild animals and the sanctuary does a great job to keep it like that and not to humanize them while taking care of them. The next morning monkeys jumping on my roof woke me up. They became my alarm replacement for the whole month. I woke up to enjoy and do all that I was hoping for – and reality served me with some unexpected things to face. I found myself on a busy schedule, filling water cans from barely dripping taps and carrying it to hundreds of thirsty monkeys in the shelter. Working hard all day in the humid heat, sweaty, dirty, exhausted and spending nightshifts taking care of screaming baby monkeys. Sometimes I fell asleep simply because I was physically exhausted. Something I had never experienced working in my office job. Nevertheless, these poor beings became my priority in a second. There’s no arguing that a baby monkey climbing playfully all over me made my heart laugh. Yet the most beautiful thing to witness was the moment when foster moms adopt the babies and we released them into troops. Apart from the rewarding service for these beautiful animals living in the bush, I have to admit that no matter how wild and free I feel I was scared to bits when I had to go to the toilet at night, knowing there were black widows sharing the place with me. Or when I had to share the shower with a scorpion or face a cobra putting its hood up. The cockroaches disgusted me, literally crawling on my butt while I was doing my business. Reality surely didn’t match the romantic escape-my-office-experience I had in mind. The place was out of power, barely had cell service and ran low on water a few times. For someone like me, used to being able to google everything in seconds, posting frequently on Instagram and getting in touch with friends and loved ones basically whenever I want to, that was a major change. A chance to reconnect with nature and myself. Enjoying the seclusion, living next to a hippo packed pond instead of a packed city. Breathing to the rhythm of the wild forest. I forgot all fears and struggles when my baby monkey fell asleep on my chest after he had finally drank enough. What a relief to know he will be fine. At the end of the days, even after a shower I was dirty and sweaty again in seconds. I had no mirror but I know for a fact that my eyes were sparkling. Without all the comforts of my modern daily life, frequently freaked out over spiders and spending days covered in monkey diarrhea, sweat and dirt – I found happiness.